


The Proposal

by overratedantihero



Category: DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), Justice League - All Media Types, The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Cold Feet, Established Relationship, M/M, Multi, Vacation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-26 09:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12055962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overratedantihero/pseuds/overratedantihero
Summary: Hal made the mistake in confiding in his coworkers about proposing to Barry, and now he's stranded on a mandatory League vacation while he decides whether or not to go forward.





	1. Chapter 1

A bead of sweat gathered at Barry’s temple before sliding to drip from his jaw. He curled in on himself, futilely drawing his arm over his eyes in attempt to protect himself from the scorching heat that bore down. A whimper pulled from his mouth, but it contorted into a shriek as something cold and goopy spurt across his exposed skin.

“ _No_ ,” he hissed, swatting at Diana as she rubbing the sunblock onto his side. He writhed under her ministrations, and he would have slid out from under her grasp in an instant except that she had somehow managed to sling her lasso around his neck while he had been wilting under the sun. She tightened its hold around Barry’s neck and Barry whimpered again, but went submissively limp nonetheless. 

“If you don’t put on sunscreen, you’ll hurt,” Diana chided him. She released the lasso to finish rubbing in the sunscreen and Barry glared at the expansive resort, reserved solely for the Justice League by Bruce Wayne.

When Hal had returned from his most recent stint in deep space, Barry had looked forward to cuddling up with him in their shared home while they caught up on all the shows they couldn’t watch while Hal was away. Instead, Bruce had surprised the League with a spontaneous vacation at a beachside resort. Barry had protested, but Hal and the others had been thrilled by the idea of an easy, private weekend in the sun. Barry hated the sun. There’s a reason why Hal moved to live with him in Central City instead of Barry moving to Coast City.

“Yeah, super healing or not, Barry, we’ve watched you burn and heal three times just from lying there,” Arthur noted, stretching as he emerged from the pool. “Can’t be comfortable.”

“It’s hot,” Barry whined. “It’s _impossible_ to be comfortable in this heat.”

“I didn’t realize you had such an aversion to warm weather,” Bruce muttered from behind his sunglasses as he typed on the laptop in his lap. Even when on vacation, Bruce Wayne was working. “I would have guessed from last summer’s vacation photos on your Facebook that you enjoyed the beach.”

Barry narrowed his eyes. “That was two years ago, Hal and I were in Coast City. How do you-”

“My apologies, then. Next time I’ll rent us a mountain cabin,” Bruce interrupted before Barry could point out that they were not Facebook friends and Bruce shouldn’t have had access to those photos.

“Next time?” Arthur asked incredulously as he toweled his hair and settled down to sunbathe. “I didn’t there was going to be a next time, given the whole reason we’re...oh, shit, sorry.” he trailed off when both Diana and Bruce swung to glare at him. Even Clark, who was several yards away and playing a really aggressive rendition of shoulder wars with Hal, Oliver, and Mera, looked up sharply. Hal followed Clark’s gaze and waved enthusiastically at Barry when they met eyes, giving Oliver the opportunity to launch himself off Mera’s shoulders and tackle Hal into the water. Arthur cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I should, uh. Go make sure they don’t kill each other,” he said, pointing towards the pool. The water began to froth and foam as Hal and Oliver wrestled to the tune of Mera’s magic. They all watched as Hal triumphantly slung Oliver into the air using an undefined construct. Clark managed to catch Oliver mid-air. Mera responded to her teammate’s predicament by diving into the water and dragging Hal, kicking and spluttering, along with her. Arthur, desperate to escape Batman’s ire, dove in after them.

“What was Arthur saying?” Barry asked, as soon as Arthur re-emerged with Hal in tow. Mera poked her head above water to blow Hal a kiss, who responded with an extended middle finger.

“Arthur is an anti-social fish person, don’t worry about it,” Bruce said. “He hates fun and vacations.” Bruce returned his attention to the laptop as if that were a reasonable end to that conversation. Barry looked to Diana for direction.

“Stay out of the water for at least half an hour,” she said, patting his newly-lotioned arm. 

“Thank you, Diana,” Barry murmured as she removed the lasso and stood up. He sat up in his chair and rubbing his neck where the lasso had rested. “Do you want me to help you with your sunscreen?”

Diana laughed, long and deep. “I grew up on an island in the Mediterranean. I don’t burn, Barry, I bronze.” With that, she strode towards the deepest end of the pool and dove in. Hal, having been deposited on the edge of the pool, crawled to his feet and walked over to join Barry.

“How’re you doing, Bar?” He murmured, crouching down next to Barry so Barry could whine and hide his face against Hal’s damp shoulder. Hal tried to run his fingers through Barry’s hair, but his hand was still wet and it ended up closer to awkward petting. “I see,” Hal murmured, as if Barry had said any actual words. “You know, it’s cooler in the pool.”

Barry pulled his face from Hal’s skin to frown. “Diana said half an hour. And I’m a little worried that Mera will eat me alive.”

“Oh, no. Diana would protect you,” Hal promised, brushing Barry’s bangs back from his sweaty face.

“Not you?” Barry asked.

“I don’t stand a chance against Mera,” Hal grimaced. He flopped down onto the lounge chair next to Barry’s and created a construct opaque enough to replace the heat of the sun with a green glow. Barry sighed happily.

“I love you,” he murmured. Normally he tried to avoid public displays of affection, but Bruce looked engrossed, Diana and Mera were wrestling in the pool, and Arthur and Clark were racing. Oliver had dried off and retreated to the resort bar where Black Canary had holed up with Barbara and Helena while they studied a case. The Gotham crowd never did vacation well.

“Love you too, Bar,” Hal murmured easily. The words didn’t always come that easily from Hal, and Barry enjoyed hearing them with frequency now. Still, what Arthur said was gnawing at him.

“Why are we really here, Hal?” Barry asked, sitting up to look at Hal more fully. Hal avoided his gaze.

“Cuz Bats is an unpredictable freak who rented an entire resort for no apparent reason to anyone but himself?” Hal offered. When Barry didn’t break his gaze, Hal shrugged. “I don’t know, Bar. If you let me throw you in the pool, we can interrogate Bruce later, together.”

“I can hear you,” Bruce muttered.

“Yeah, and I bet Clark hears me do all sorts of shit, doesn’t mean I’m going to stop on his account,” Hal retorted. Across the pool, Clark blushed. 

Bruce hmphed. “Barry, if you wish, you don’t have to stay outside with us. Just be in the ballroom by 8pm for dinner.”

Barry wanted to point out that he was a full-grown man who would eat dinner when he wanted to eat dinner. But it seemed as if Bruce had arranged a dinner for all of them, and knowing Bruce it would be more expensive than Barry’s monthly grocery bill. Barry wasn’t going to turn down a gift.

He stood and stretched. “Then I’ll see you at dinner or back in the room,” he told Hal before heading away from the pool. Hal watched him go.

“You’re not thinking about backing out, are you?” Arthur strode over once Barry was out of sight. Hal glared at him.

“’Course not,” he muttered. “I’m just… starting to think I went about this the wrong way.”

“You wanted a gesture,” Bruce said, closing the laptop, and storing it as Clark began dripping water on Bruce by reaching over him for a towel. 

“He would have made a gesture,” Hal murmured. “If he was the one doing it.”

“I’m surprised he isn’t,” Diana confessed. “I always assumed he would, if it were going to happen at all.”

“With Hal’s track record? Barry probably thought he’d jinx it,” Oliver said, materializing with a cocktail in hand. Hal shot him a glare and Oliver lifted his hands up, as best he could while holding a drink. “Listen, you know how you are.”

“You could still make it small and private,” Diana offered. “We’re just here to celebrate afterwards. It’s up to you how you do it… and if you don’t, we at least got a nice vacation out of it.”

Hal shrugged pitifully, uncertainty coiling his stomach into knots.


	2. Chapter 2

Barry flopped onto the bed in his and Hal’s shared room, only vaguely concerned about smearing sunscreen on the sheets. He shouldn’t have come on this vacation. He had work to do at home, both police work and Flash work. Every moment he lazed about here, there was an opportunity someone at home would cause more trouble than Jay or Wally could handle on their own.

But, Hal wanted to go, and it was kind of Bruce to fund a League outing like this. Barry loved his coworkers, and he enjoyed spending time with them. It was just _so_ hot.

Sighing, Barry reached blindly for the television remote on the bedside table. While he wasn’t working, he could at least catch up on some sleep with a nap, and he napped best with background noise. When his hand didn’t find any purchase, Barry looked over to see that the remote wasn’t there. He sat up and slid open the drawer. Inside was a Bible, like those in cheap motel night stands, and a box of tissues. Barry picked up the Bible to see if the remote was hiding behind it, but the book was surprisingly light. Suspiciously light. Barry shook it and heard rattling, confirming his suspicion that it was hollow. He opened the Bible and a ring tumbled out.

A thick, platinum band studded with blue stones. Barry narrowed his eyes and picked up the ring from where it fell on the bed. He turned the ring around, almost expecting some form of explanation. He zipped around the room at light speed, turning over its corners and seeking some other clue to suggest why he’d find a ring in his and Hal’s shared room.

Because it couldn’t be what Barry thought it was. Hal wouldn’t. Hal was _terrified_ of commitment. He flinched at Valentine’s Day adverts. Once, Hal literally squawked when he walked in on Barry watching _Four Weddings_. _Squawked_. Like a bird.

This couldn’t have been an engagement ring. Hal wouldn’t.

Barry tucked the ring back into its hidden compartment, which promptly went back into the drawer. Afterwards he was too restless to nap, so he cleaned the resort. Using the speedforce, he picked up every stray towel, every stray piece of trash. It wasn’t too difficult; the resorts had been vacant except for staff and the League since the day before. He brushed against the pool where the others still congregated, but only Clark noticed him enough to glance curiously after him.

“Kal?” Bruce asked, not looking up from his cellphone, where he was supposedly reading updates on Gotham from the boys.

“Barry just swung by. Picking up litter,” Clark murmured. “I don’t know why.”

“Sounds like something Bartholomew would do,” Hal said from his green-construct pool float. “Wouldn’t think too hard about it, Boy Scout. Bar does weird shit. Especially if he’s already worked up. Once after two hours of Coast City traffic, Barry blew off steam by building a playground.”

“Which begs the question,” Bruce started.

Diana, already picking up on Bruce’s train of thought, interrupted to ask, “Hal, where did you put the ring?”

Hal leaned his head back, unperturbed. “It’s hella well hidden. I made a fake compartment in a book and put it in there. The book’s in the night stand. He’s not going to find it.”

“And if Barry decided he was in the mood for a read?” Arthur asked, head popping up beside Hal’s suddenly enough to startle Hal off his construct. The construct dissipated as Hal hit the water. When his head bobbed up, sunglasses askew, Hal spat water at Arthur, who bristled.

“He’s not gonna. It’s the Bible. Barry doesn’t just casually read the Good Word. He has no reason to be touching it, my plan’s foolproof.”

“How long did it take you to carve out the space in the book?” Oliver asked, plucking Hal’s glasses away and putting them on himself. Hal rolled his eyes.

“For fucking ever. I tore up three books trying; a couple of holy rollers dumped that on our doorstep a few weeks ago, so I thought I’d make it useful. Anyway, point is, I’m a genius and you’re all paranoid.” He kicked up and floated on his back, using a construct to snatch his sunglasses back from Oliver. “Besides,” he added. “I get Barry gifts all of the time. He wouldn’t assume I was proposing.”

“Yeah, you get Barry shit like space rocks,” Oliver retorted, crossing his arms, the effect diminished by the fact the gesture was mostly under water. “Rings are different. Rings are serious.”

“Rings are not inherently special,” Diana retorted. She sighed wistfully and her eyes crinkled in a nostalgic smile. “I once staked out a phoenix egg for weeks, and then I fought a brutal battle to retrieve it. The egg itself was not much against the wonders of Themyscira, but my mother appreciated the gesture immensely.”

Oliver and Hal stared at her, blinking.

“Princess, what the fuck,” Hal said. “That’s like. Fuck. I could’ve gotten Barry a phoenix egg?”

“Unlikely,” Diana smirked. “But you miss my point. Objects do not possess value without the worth we assign them. Through ritual and love, we create preciousness. The space rocks you retrieve for Barry remind Barry that even in faraway places, you’re thinking of him. And that makes them precious to him. The ring is no different. Without intent, it’s just a trinket.”

Hal sunk into the water until his nose just barely breached the surface. Diana wasn’t wrong, but Hal felt overwhelmed by the realization that the little things he had collected for Barry over the years could amount to something deeper than what Hal was comfortable expressing so overtly. He had thought that the proposal was dramatically outside of his usual behavior, but if it wasn’t, he’d have to rethink a swath of his identity that made him feel secure.

What was a slow, but steady, crawl towards a distant future for him and Barry suddenly felt like a violent tumble downwards. The sensation of _too much, too fast_ threatened to suffocate him. Finally, Hal’s nerves threatened to burst from his skin if he didn’t act. He powered up his ring and shot out of the pool as his uniform materialized around him. He hurtled towards the window he recognized to be his and Barry’s.

He needed to grab the ring and chuck it into the sun. Or something. Probably the sun.

In the pool, the others watched his manic exit. Diana frowned.

“I didn’t… I didn’t mean to… oh no,” she sighed. “He misunderstood.”

“No. He understood,” Clark murmured, watching Hal go. “You only told him the truth. He’s just not ready for it.”

“Should we… I don’t know, try to stop him?” Oliver asked, hand twitching even though he wasn’t wearing his bow or quiver.

“I don’t see a surgeon among us,” Mera scoffed. Everyone turned to her quizzically. Mera sighed. “He said we should stop him. I don’t think anyone here is qualified to give him a spine. And cowards will be cowards.”  

“Hal isn’t a coward,” Clark asserted. He glanced back to where Hal was growing distant to the onlookers. “He’s just… Hal,” Clark finished, clumsily. Mera rolled her eyes and Bruce hmph'd.


End file.
